Friday, May 28, 2010
Memorial Day Weekend
We will be closed Monday 5/31 in observance of Memorial Day. We will be back to work on Tuesday 6/1. Have a wonderful and safe weekend!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Mixed results for Bay Area April home sales
May 20, 2010
La Jolla, CA.----Bay Area home sales fell slightly below the year-ago level and remained well below average last month as increased high-end activity couldn’t offset sales declines in the lower-cost areas and in the new-home market. The continued shift toward a greater portion of sales occurring in higher-cost coastal communities helped the region’s median sale price rise nearly 22 percent from last year, but the median fell from March, a real estate information service reported.
Last month a total of 7,003 homes closed escrows in the nine-county Bay Area, up 0.2 percent from 6,992 in March but down 1.9 percent from 7,139 in April 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego.
On average, Bay Area sales have risen 4.2 percent between March and April each year since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin. Last month’s sales tally was 24.5 percent below the April average of 9,278 sales since 1988, and was the second-lowest for an April since 1995.
The 368 newly built homes that closed escrow in April marked the lowest new-home total for that month since April 1993, when 342 sold.
Some of April’s sales activity might have been delayed until at least May as buyers decided to take advantage of new state tax credits that became effective May 1. The credits are for first-time buyers and those purchasing a new home.
“It’s not clear how many April sales might have been pushed into May or June by tax credits. The bigger picture is that the housing market will gradually be decoupled from government stimulus and be on its own again. For months we’ve seen growing signs of a recovery taking hold. But plenty of challenges remain like high unemployment, the possibility of many more distressed properties hitting the market in a rising interest rate environment, and a dysfunctional jumbo loan market, which is a big deal in the Bay Area,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.
Buyers paid a median $370,000 for all new and resale houses and condos that sold last month, down 2.6 percent from $380,000 in March but up 21.7 percent from $304,000 in April 2009.
The median has risen on a year-over-year basis for seven straight months. But in April it was still 44.4 percent below the $665,000 peak of June and July 2007.
The April median’s nearly 22 percent increase over a year ago is largely a reflection of the changes that have occurred in buying patterns across the region. A year ago many more homes being sold were inland foreclosures – homes that were often in less-than-stellar condition, and which had highly motivated sellers. Also a year ago, sales in many high-end communities were extremely sluggish. This spring the re-selling of foreclosures has waned and high-end activity is much stronger, in part because prices have come down, there’s more inventory in some areas and it appears high-end financing has loosened a bit.
Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – made up 29.5 percent of the Bay Area’s resale market last month. That was the lowest since May 2008 and was down from 31.3 percent in March and 46.4 percent in April 2009. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009.
As less-expensive foreclosures have waned the past year, activity in many mid-to high-priced neighborhoods has picked up, helping to explain the recent double-digit annual gains in the median sale price. Last month 35.1 percent of the homes sold in the Bay Area were priced $500,000 or above, up from 27.0 percent a year ago. However, $500,000-plus sales still lag their decade-long monthly average of 46.1 percent of all sales.
Viewed a different way, zip codes in the top one-third of the Bay Area market, based on their historical prices, accounted for 31.5 percent of existing single-family house sales last month, compared with 22.9 percent a year ago. The number of houses resold in the top one-third of the market in April was 23.3 percent higher than a year ago, while house resales in the bottom one-third of the market (the least expensive zip codes) fell 26.6 percent.
High-end sales would be stronger, and the region’s overall recovery more robust, if jumbo and adjustable-rate financing were easier to obtain.
Mortgages above the old conforming loan limit of $417,000 made up nearly 60 percent of all Bay Area home purchase loans before the credit crunch hit in August 2007. Last month $417,000-plus loans made up 31.6 percent.
Use of adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) remains far below historically normal levels, too. ARMs made up just 11.1 percent of Bay Area purchase loans last month. While that’s the highest since ARMs were 13.7 percent of purchase loans in September 2008, it’s a fraction of the monthly ARM average of nearly 50 percent since 2000.
Meanwhile, federally-insured FHA loans have kept the entry-level market humming. The low-down-payment loans, which are popular with first-time buyers and some move-up buyers, made up 25.6 percent of Bay Area purchase loans last month. That was down from 25.8 percent a year ago but up from 14.4 percent two years ago.
Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 18.2 percent of all Bay Area homes sold, paying a median $249,500. That’s up from 17.0 percent in March and up from 17.3 percent a year ago. The monthly absentee buyer average over the past decade is 13.0 percent. Buyers who appeared to have paid all cash – meaning there was no corresponding purchase loan found in the public record – accounted for 25.5 percent of sales in April, paying a median $260,000.
Home flipping has trended higher of late. Last month 2.6 percent of the homes that sold had previously been sold between three weeks and six months prior. That was up from a Bay Area flipping rate of 2.3 percent in March and 1.6 percent a year earlier. Last month’s flipping rates varied from 1.4 percent in San Francisco to 3.7 percent in Solano County.
San Diego-based MDA DataQuick is a division of MDA Lending Solutions, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates. MDA DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. Because of late data availability, sales were estimated in Alameda and San Mateo counties.
The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,607 last month, down from $1,626 the previous month, and up from $1,277 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 39.5 percent below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 55.3 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007.
Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but below peak levels reached over the last two years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and non-owner occupied buying is above-average, MDA DataQuick reported.
Sales Volume Median Price
All homes Apr-09 Apr-10 %Chng Apr-09 Apr-10 %Chng
Alameda 1457 1319 -9.50% $289,197 $350,000 21.00%
Contra Costa 1,699 1,635 -3.80% $225,000 $273,000 21.30%
Marin 174 245 40.80% $585,000 $659,000 12.60%
Napa 99 104 5.10% $315,000 $335,000 6.30%
Santa Clara 1,606 1,656 3.10% $405,000 $489,000 20.70%
San Francisco 402 428 6.50% $628,500 $692,500 10.20%
San Mateo 444 556 25.20% $520,000 $580,000 11.50%
Solano 717 591 -17.60% $180,000 $202,000 12.20%
Sonoma 541 469 -13.30% $290,000 $318,000 9.70%
Bay Area 7,139 7,003 -1.90% $304,000 $370,000 21.70%
Source: MDA DataQuick Information Systems, www.DQNews.com
Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157 or John Karevoll (909) 867-9534
Copyright 2010 DataQuick Information Systems. All rights reserved.
La Jolla, CA.----Bay Area home sales fell slightly below the year-ago level and remained well below average last month as increased high-end activity couldn’t offset sales declines in the lower-cost areas and in the new-home market. The continued shift toward a greater portion of sales occurring in higher-cost coastal communities helped the region’s median sale price rise nearly 22 percent from last year, but the median fell from March, a real estate information service reported.
Last month a total of 7,003 homes closed escrows in the nine-county Bay Area, up 0.2 percent from 6,992 in March but down 1.9 percent from 7,139 in April 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego.
On average, Bay Area sales have risen 4.2 percent between March and April each year since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin. Last month’s sales tally was 24.5 percent below the April average of 9,278 sales since 1988, and was the second-lowest for an April since 1995.
The 368 newly built homes that closed escrow in April marked the lowest new-home total for that month since April 1993, when 342 sold.
Some of April’s sales activity might have been delayed until at least May as buyers decided to take advantage of new state tax credits that became effective May 1. The credits are for first-time buyers and those purchasing a new home.
“It’s not clear how many April sales might have been pushed into May or June by tax credits. The bigger picture is that the housing market will gradually be decoupled from government stimulus and be on its own again. For months we’ve seen growing signs of a recovery taking hold. But plenty of challenges remain like high unemployment, the possibility of many more distressed properties hitting the market in a rising interest rate environment, and a dysfunctional jumbo loan market, which is a big deal in the Bay Area,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.
Buyers paid a median $370,000 for all new and resale houses and condos that sold last month, down 2.6 percent from $380,000 in March but up 21.7 percent from $304,000 in April 2009.
The median has risen on a year-over-year basis for seven straight months. But in April it was still 44.4 percent below the $665,000 peak of June and July 2007.
The April median’s nearly 22 percent increase over a year ago is largely a reflection of the changes that have occurred in buying patterns across the region. A year ago many more homes being sold were inland foreclosures – homes that were often in less-than-stellar condition, and which had highly motivated sellers. Also a year ago, sales in many high-end communities were extremely sluggish. This spring the re-selling of foreclosures has waned and high-end activity is much stronger, in part because prices have come down, there’s more inventory in some areas and it appears high-end financing has loosened a bit.
Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – made up 29.5 percent of the Bay Area’s resale market last month. That was the lowest since May 2008 and was down from 31.3 percent in March and 46.4 percent in April 2009. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52.0 percent in February 2009.
As less-expensive foreclosures have waned the past year, activity in many mid-to high-priced neighborhoods has picked up, helping to explain the recent double-digit annual gains in the median sale price. Last month 35.1 percent of the homes sold in the Bay Area were priced $500,000 or above, up from 27.0 percent a year ago. However, $500,000-plus sales still lag their decade-long monthly average of 46.1 percent of all sales.
Viewed a different way, zip codes in the top one-third of the Bay Area market, based on their historical prices, accounted for 31.5 percent of existing single-family house sales last month, compared with 22.9 percent a year ago. The number of houses resold in the top one-third of the market in April was 23.3 percent higher than a year ago, while house resales in the bottom one-third of the market (the least expensive zip codes) fell 26.6 percent.
High-end sales would be stronger, and the region’s overall recovery more robust, if jumbo and adjustable-rate financing were easier to obtain.
Mortgages above the old conforming loan limit of $417,000 made up nearly 60 percent of all Bay Area home purchase loans before the credit crunch hit in August 2007. Last month $417,000-plus loans made up 31.6 percent.
Use of adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) remains far below historically normal levels, too. ARMs made up just 11.1 percent of Bay Area purchase loans last month. While that’s the highest since ARMs were 13.7 percent of purchase loans in September 2008, it’s a fraction of the monthly ARM average of nearly 50 percent since 2000.
Meanwhile, federally-insured FHA loans have kept the entry-level market humming. The low-down-payment loans, which are popular with first-time buyers and some move-up buyers, made up 25.6 percent of Bay Area purchase loans last month. That was down from 25.8 percent a year ago but up from 14.4 percent two years ago.
Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 18.2 percent of all Bay Area homes sold, paying a median $249,500. That’s up from 17.0 percent in March and up from 17.3 percent a year ago. The monthly absentee buyer average over the past decade is 13.0 percent. Buyers who appeared to have paid all cash – meaning there was no corresponding purchase loan found in the public record – accounted for 25.5 percent of sales in April, paying a median $260,000.
Home flipping has trended higher of late. Last month 2.6 percent of the homes that sold had previously been sold between three weeks and six months prior. That was up from a Bay Area flipping rate of 2.3 percent in March and 1.6 percent a year earlier. Last month’s flipping rates varied from 1.4 percent in San Francisco to 3.7 percent in Solano County.
San Diego-based MDA DataQuick is a division of MDA Lending Solutions, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates. MDA DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. Because of late data availability, sales were estimated in Alameda and San Mateo counties.
The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,607 last month, down from $1,626 the previous month, and up from $1,277 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 39.5 percent below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 55.3 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007.
Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards but below peak levels reached over the last two years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and non-owner occupied buying is above-average, MDA DataQuick reported.
Sales Volume Median Price
All homes Apr-09 Apr-10 %Chng Apr-09 Apr-10 %Chng
Alameda 1457 1319 -9.50% $289,197 $350,000 21.00%
Contra Costa 1,699 1,635 -3.80% $225,000 $273,000 21.30%
Marin 174 245 40.80% $585,000 $659,000 12.60%
Napa 99 104 5.10% $315,000 $335,000 6.30%
Santa Clara 1,606 1,656 3.10% $405,000 $489,000 20.70%
San Francisco 402 428 6.50% $628,500 $692,500 10.20%
San Mateo 444 556 25.20% $520,000 $580,000 11.50%
Solano 717 591 -17.60% $180,000 $202,000 12.20%
Sonoma 541 469 -13.30% $290,000 $318,000 9.70%
Bay Area 7,139 7,003 -1.90% $304,000 $370,000 21.70%
Source: MDA DataQuick Information Systems, www.DQNews.com
Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157 or John Karevoll (909) 867-9534
Copyright 2010 DataQuick Information Systems. All rights reserved.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Federal Housing Administration to Accept DocuSign for Real Estate Contracts Nationwide
Buyers, Sellers, Agents and Lenders Will Save Significant Time and Money on Mortgage Document Approvals with DocuSign eSignature Services
SEATTLE – April 8, 2010 - DocuSign®, the leader in on-demand electronic signature solutions, today announced that e-signed third-party documents, including real estate contracts, are now being accepted by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). DocuSign spearheaded an industry-wide effort to move the FHA to formally recognize e-signed third-party documents. The April 8, 2010 dated FHA mortgagee letter is the first in what is expected to be a series of responses to this initiative. With this policy statement from the nation's largest mortgage insurer, real estate professionals can use DocuSign to get real estate contracts, addenda and other documents signed electronically, and their buyers can apply for FHA insurance with confidence. The FHA mortgagee letter can be found at http://nhl.gov/offices/adm/hudclips/letters/mortgagee/files/10-14ml.pdf.
"We commend FHA's action today. By clarifying its position on electronic signatures, the process of buying, selling and financing of homes across the country will be greatly improved," said Ken Moyle, chief legal officer at DocuSign. "Buyers, sellers and agents can use DocuSign's online process to eliminate the time, expense and environmental impact of printing, delivering and signing large stacks of paper documents, and mortgage lenders can take comfort in knowing that DocuSign's e-signature process is designed for legal compliance in all 50 states and is fully evidenced by a comprehensive audit trail."
Real estate agents can quickly access the DocuSign e-signing service from any laptop with Internet access, drag and drop familiar yellow StickEtabs® onto the contract and send the envelope. The recipient immediately receives an email notification that can be accessed through a computer or any Web-enabled mobile device, including Apple® iPhone®, RIM® BlackBerry®, Google® AndroidTM, Windows Mobile®, adopts an e-signature and signs the document. Once completed, an email notification is sent to all parties with a link to the final executed document. The result is a legally binding, fully ESIGN-compliant document supported by a comprehensive audit trail.
As on-demand software-as-a-service (SaaS), DocuSign requires no additional software or hardware purchases and no downtime for training. DocuSign eSignature service offers users one of the easiest, most simple to use and safest electronic signature experiences available today. For more information on DocuSign, visit www.docusign.com
SEATTLE – April 8, 2010 - DocuSign®, the leader in on-demand electronic signature solutions, today announced that e-signed third-party documents, including real estate contracts, are now being accepted by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). DocuSign spearheaded an industry-wide effort to move the FHA to formally recognize e-signed third-party documents. The April 8, 2010 dated FHA mortgagee letter is the first in what is expected to be a series of responses to this initiative. With this policy statement from the nation's largest mortgage insurer, real estate professionals can use DocuSign to get real estate contracts, addenda and other documents signed electronically, and their buyers can apply for FHA insurance with confidence. The FHA mortgagee letter can be found at http://nhl.gov/offices/adm/hudclips/letters/mortgagee/files/10-14ml.pdf.
"We commend FHA's action today. By clarifying its position on electronic signatures, the process of buying, selling and financing of homes across the country will be greatly improved," said Ken Moyle, chief legal officer at DocuSign. "Buyers, sellers and agents can use DocuSign's online process to eliminate the time, expense and environmental impact of printing, delivering and signing large stacks of paper documents, and mortgage lenders can take comfort in knowing that DocuSign's e-signature process is designed for legal compliance in all 50 states and is fully evidenced by a comprehensive audit trail."
Real estate agents can quickly access the DocuSign e-signing service from any laptop with Internet access, drag and drop familiar yellow StickEtabs® onto the contract and send the envelope. The recipient immediately receives an email notification that can be accessed through a computer or any Web-enabled mobile device, including Apple® iPhone®, RIM® BlackBerry®, Google® AndroidTM, Windows Mobile®, adopts an e-signature and signs the document. Once completed, an email notification is sent to all parties with a link to the final executed document. The result is a legally binding, fully ESIGN-compliant document supported by a comprehensive audit trail.
As on-demand software-as-a-service (SaaS), DocuSign requires no additional software or hardware purchases and no downtime for training. DocuSign eSignature service offers users one of the easiest, most simple to use and safest electronic signature experiences available today. For more information on DocuSign, visit www.docusign.com
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Time is running out on the federal tax credits...
Time is running out on the federal tax credits for first-time and repeat buyers. First-time buyers who enter a binding contract by April 30 and close escrow before July 1—and meet the income limits—are eligible for the full $8,000 credit (maximum, or 10 percent of the sales price, whichever is less) on their federal tax returns. The first-time home buyer credit applies to homes purchased for $800,000 or less, and does not require repayment if buyers live in the residence for three or more years.
Existing homeowners may be eligible for a tax credit (10 percent of the purchase price, not to exceed $6,500). To be eligible for this credit, homeowners must have lived in their current home for five consecutive years out of the last eight years and must enter a contract to purchase a new or existing home by April 30, 2010. Existing homeowners do not need to sell their current home to qualify for this credit, but must close escrow before by June 30, 2010
Existing homeowners may be eligible for a tax credit (10 percent of the purchase price, not to exceed $6,500). To be eligible for this credit, homeowners must have lived in their current home for five consecutive years out of the last eight years and must enter a contract to purchase a new or existing home by April 30, 2010. Existing homeowners do not need to sell their current home to qualify for this credit, but must close escrow before by June 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Bay Area home sales down slightly from last year, median sale price rises
March 18, 2010
La Jolla, CA.----Bay Area home sales were subpar again in February, dipping below the year-ago level for the second straight month as some potential buyers worried about job security, some couldn’t get financing and others found a thin inventory of homes for sale. The median price paid rose year-over-year for the fifth consecutive month, mainly because fewer low-cost foreclosures have sold and more higher-end homes have turned over this year compared with last, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 4,987 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was up 2.8 percent from 4,853 in January and down 0.9 percent from 5,032 in February 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego.
Last month’s sales fell 22.2 percent short of the February average of 6,413 sales since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.
February’s sales were the second-lowest for that month since 1995, behind the record-low 3,989 homes sold in February 2008. January and February this year are the only two months since August 2008 in which sales have fallen year-over-year.
“The sales and price data remain choppy, with more ups and downs and inconsistencies than we’d typically see. It’s partly the season – January and February are often atypical and don’t serve as good barometers. But it’s more than that. The market remains fundamentally off kilter. There’s still relatively little lending going on in the upper price ranges, and little adjustable-rate financing, which had been vital to the Bay Area. Investor and cash-only deals remain well above normal, as does the level of sales involving distressed property,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.
“Despite the widening stability seen in the housing market in recent months, the outlook remains murky,” he said. “Whether prices will firm, or remain firm, will depend largely on three factors: The market’s response as the government reduces its housing stimulus, the economy’s ability to gain traction, and the decisions that lenders and borrowers will make in countless distress cases. The key question is how much more distressed inventory is coming, and when.”
Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – rose to 36.6 percent of all homes resold last month, marking the fourth consecutive month in which foreclosure resales edged higher. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52 percent of resales in February 2009, then gradually fell and, in the fall, leveled off near 32 percent before starting to rise modestly.
The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month was $354,000. That was up 1.1 percent from $350,000 in January and up 20.0 percent from $295,000 in February 2009.
Last month’s median was 22.1 percent higher than the lowest point reached in the housing downturn – $290,000 last March – but it was still 46.8 percent lower than the $665,000 peak median reached in June and July of 2007.
Last month’s median rose 20 percent above February 2009 largely because a year ago low-cost foreclosures were far more plentiful, lower-cost inland areas represented a substantially larger portion of total sales, and high-end sales were very sluggish. That made for an unusually low February 2009 median of $295,000.
Sales over $500,000 made up 31.9 percent of all transactions last month, compared with 23.6 percent a year ago. High-end sales have risen in part because more distress has crept into that segment of the market, creating more motivated sellers. Other sellers have simply given up on holding out for yesterday’s higher prices, which were supported by what was then a relative abundance of financing, some quite creative, for high-end homes.
The availability of financing for costlier homes appears to have improved modestly in the last year, but those loans remain relatively expensive and hard to obtain.
Mortgages above $417,000 – formerly the definition of a jumbo loan – made up 26.3 percent of all home purchase loans last month. That was down from 27.3 percent in January but up from 18.3 percent a year ago. More than 60 percent of purchase loans were over $417,000 before the August 2007 credit crunch hit.
Another key form of financing for higher-cost homes – adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) – remains way below the historical norm. In February, 7.8 percent of Bay Area purchase loans were ARMs, up from 7.5 percent in January and 3.9 percent a year ago. ARMs averaged 61 percent of purchase loans each month between January 2000 and when the credit crunch began in August 2007. The 22-year monthly average for ARMs in the Bay Area is 47.0 percent.
Financing has flowed more easily for low- to mid-priced homes. Federally-insured, low-down-payment FHA loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, made up 26.9 percent of Bay Area purchase loans last month. That was up from 23.3 percent a year ago and 1.4 percent two years ago.
Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 19.4 percent of all Bay Area homes sold, the same as in January and up from 18.4 percent a year ago. The monthly absentee buyer average over the past decade is 13.0 percent. Buyers who appeared to have paid all cash – meaning there was no corresponding purchase loan found in the public record – accounted for a record 27.1 percent of sales in February, up from 25.7 percent in January and 24.4 percent a year ago.
Home flipping has trended higher lately but eased a bit last month, when 2.6 percent of the homes that sold had previously been sold between three weeks and six months prior. That was down from a flipping rate of 2.9 percent in January but up from 1.5 percent a year ago. Last month’s flipping rates varied from 1.3 percent of sales in Napa County to 3.6 percent in Solano County.
San Diego-based MDA DataQuick is a division of MDA Lending Solutions, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates. MDA DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. Because of late data availability, sales were estimated in Alameda and San Mateo counties.
The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,519 last month, up from $1,508 the previous month, and up from $1,286 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 42.7 percent below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 57.7 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007.
Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards, with default notices on the rise again, but it’s well below peak levels reached over the last two years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and non-owner occupied buying is above-average, MDA DataQuick reported.
Sales Volume Median Price
All homes Feb-09 Feb-10 %Chng Feb-09 Feb-10 %Chng
Alameda 971 1016 4.60% $290,000 $333,500 15.00%
Contra Costa 1,283 1,065 -17.00% $216,500 $255,500 18.00%
Marin 111 153 37.80% $573,409 $615,000 7.30%
Napa 88 76 -13.60% $322,500 $320,000 -0.80%
Santa Clara 1,079 1,183 9.60% $408,750 $460,000 12.50%
San Francisco 272 327 20.20% $640,000 $627,500 -2.00%
San Mateo 311 328 5.50% $502,250 $554,000 10.30%
Solano 557 450 -19.20% $195,000 $208,500 6.90%
Sonoma 360 389 8.10% $282,000 $310,000 9.90%
Bay Area 5,032 4,987 -0.90% $295,000 $354,000 20.00%
Source: MDA DataQuick Information Systems, www.DQNews.com
Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157 or John Karevoll (909) 867-9534
Copyright 2009 DataQuick Information Systems. All rights reserved.
La Jolla, CA.----Bay Area home sales were subpar again in February, dipping below the year-ago level for the second straight month as some potential buyers worried about job security, some couldn’t get financing and others found a thin inventory of homes for sale. The median price paid rose year-over-year for the fifth consecutive month, mainly because fewer low-cost foreclosures have sold and more higher-end homes have turned over this year compared with last, a real estate information service reported.
A total of 4,987 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was up 2.8 percent from 4,853 in January and down 0.9 percent from 5,032 in February 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego.
Last month’s sales fell 22.2 percent short of the February average of 6,413 sales since 1988, when DataQuick’s statistics begin.
February’s sales were the second-lowest for that month since 1995, behind the record-low 3,989 homes sold in February 2008. January and February this year are the only two months since August 2008 in which sales have fallen year-over-year.
“The sales and price data remain choppy, with more ups and downs and inconsistencies than we’d typically see. It’s partly the season – January and February are often atypical and don’t serve as good barometers. But it’s more than that. The market remains fundamentally off kilter. There’s still relatively little lending going on in the upper price ranges, and little adjustable-rate financing, which had been vital to the Bay Area. Investor and cash-only deals remain well above normal, as does the level of sales involving distressed property,” said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.
“Despite the widening stability seen in the housing market in recent months, the outlook remains murky,” he said. “Whether prices will firm, or remain firm, will depend largely on three factors: The market’s response as the government reduces its housing stimulus, the economy’s ability to gain traction, and the decisions that lenders and borrowers will make in countless distress cases. The key question is how much more distressed inventory is coming, and when.”
Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – rose to 36.6 percent of all homes resold last month, marking the fourth consecutive month in which foreclosure resales edged higher. Foreclosure resales peaked at 52 percent of resales in February 2009, then gradually fell and, in the fall, leveled off near 32 percent before starting to rise modestly.
The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month was $354,000. That was up 1.1 percent from $350,000 in January and up 20.0 percent from $295,000 in February 2009.
Last month’s median was 22.1 percent higher than the lowest point reached in the housing downturn – $290,000 last March – but it was still 46.8 percent lower than the $665,000 peak median reached in June and July of 2007.
Last month’s median rose 20 percent above February 2009 largely because a year ago low-cost foreclosures were far more plentiful, lower-cost inland areas represented a substantially larger portion of total sales, and high-end sales were very sluggish. That made for an unusually low February 2009 median of $295,000.
Sales over $500,000 made up 31.9 percent of all transactions last month, compared with 23.6 percent a year ago. High-end sales have risen in part because more distress has crept into that segment of the market, creating more motivated sellers. Other sellers have simply given up on holding out for yesterday’s higher prices, which were supported by what was then a relative abundance of financing, some quite creative, for high-end homes.
The availability of financing for costlier homes appears to have improved modestly in the last year, but those loans remain relatively expensive and hard to obtain.
Mortgages above $417,000 – formerly the definition of a jumbo loan – made up 26.3 percent of all home purchase loans last month. That was down from 27.3 percent in January but up from 18.3 percent a year ago. More than 60 percent of purchase loans were over $417,000 before the August 2007 credit crunch hit.
Another key form of financing for higher-cost homes – adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) – remains way below the historical norm. In February, 7.8 percent of Bay Area purchase loans were ARMs, up from 7.5 percent in January and 3.9 percent a year ago. ARMs averaged 61 percent of purchase loans each month between January 2000 and when the credit crunch began in August 2007. The 22-year monthly average for ARMs in the Bay Area is 47.0 percent.
Financing has flowed more easily for low- to mid-priced homes. Federally-insured, low-down-payment FHA loans, a popular choice among first-time buyers, made up 26.9 percent of Bay Area purchase loans last month. That was up from 23.3 percent a year ago and 1.4 percent two years ago.
Last month absentee buyers – mostly investors – purchased 19.4 percent of all Bay Area homes sold, the same as in January and up from 18.4 percent a year ago. The monthly absentee buyer average over the past decade is 13.0 percent. Buyers who appeared to have paid all cash – meaning there was no corresponding purchase loan found in the public record – accounted for a record 27.1 percent of sales in February, up from 25.7 percent in January and 24.4 percent a year ago.
Home flipping has trended higher lately but eased a bit last month, when 2.6 percent of the homes that sold had previously been sold between three weeks and six months prior. That was down from a flipping rate of 2.9 percent in January but up from 1.5 percent a year ago. Last month’s flipping rates varied from 1.3 percent of sales in Napa County to 3.6 percent in Solano County.
San Diego-based MDA DataQuick is a division of MDA Lending Solutions, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates. MDA DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts. Because of late data availability, sales were estimated in Alameda and San Mateo counties.
The typical monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area buyers committed themselves to paying was $1,519 last month, up from $1,508 the previous month, and up from $1,286 a year ago. Adjusted for inflation, current payments are 42.7 percent below typical payments in the spring of 1989, the peak of the prior real estate cycle. They are 57.7 percent below the current cycle's peak in July 2007.
Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity remains high by historical standards, with default notices on the rise again, but it’s well below peak levels reached over the last two years. Financing with multiple mortgages is low, down payment sizes are stable, and non-owner occupied buying is above-average, MDA DataQuick reported.
Sales Volume Median Price
All homes Feb-09 Feb-10 %Chng Feb-09 Feb-10 %Chng
Alameda 971 1016 4.60% $290,000 $333,500 15.00%
Contra Costa 1,283 1,065 -17.00% $216,500 $255,500 18.00%
Marin 111 153 37.80% $573,409 $615,000 7.30%
Napa 88 76 -13.60% $322,500 $320,000 -0.80%
Santa Clara 1,079 1,183 9.60% $408,750 $460,000 12.50%
San Francisco 272 327 20.20% $640,000 $627,500 -2.00%
San Mateo 311 328 5.50% $502,250 $554,000 10.30%
Solano 557 450 -19.20% $195,000 $208,500 6.90%
Sonoma 360 389 8.10% $282,000 $310,000 9.90%
Bay Area 5,032 4,987 -0.90% $295,000 $354,000 20.00%
Source: MDA DataQuick Information Systems, www.DQNews.com
Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157 or John Karevoll (909) 867-9534
Copyright 2009 DataQuick Information Systems. All rights reserved.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
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